Browse Items (35 total)

  • Collection: Medieval

Church dedications and landed units of lordship and administration in the pre-Reformation diocese of Worcester

One of the few quantifiable measures available for any study of society in the medieval period, other than economic and fiscal data, is the evidence of shared beliefs and values as expressed through the cult of saints. The chronology and geography of…

Change and decay: The Warwickshire Manors of the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from the late thirteenth to the late sixteenth centuries

This thesis consists of an in-depth study of the medieval Warwickshire manors of the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield: Chadshunt and Nether Itchington which succumbed to depopulation and Gaydon, Upper Itchington and Tachbrook which continue to…

Borderlands: The Buckinghamshire/Northamptonshire border, c650-c1350

This thesis represents the first detailed study of the evolution of a medieval county border in south-midland England. It explores when and how the border between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire might have been drawn and considers the impact it…

Aspects of Anglo-Saxon history in the East Midlands, with special reference to the lower Soar Valley

This thesis illustrates features of Anglo-Saxon settlement in the valley of the river Soar, Leicestershire, between the northern limit of Leicester and the river Trent, herein called the lower Soar valley. It is a poorly attested area in documentary…

Roger of Hereford’s Judicial Astrology: England’s First Astrology Book?

The twelfth century saw a large number of Arabic texts on natural philosophy translated into Latin for the first time. Many of these texts were astrological, and had originally been translated into Arabic in the eighth and ninth centuries, shortly…

The Changing Landscape and Economy of Wisbech Hundred: 1250-1550

There is the ever-present danger that the study of local history can be seen as parochial and of limited value in understanding the forces that shape the society and economy of a country. This thesis demonstrates the value of local research as a…

Stories from the Edge: Creating an Identity in Early Medieval North-West Staffordshire

This thesis takes as its research area the southern half of Pirehill Hundred, Staffordshire. Despite being in the Mercian heartland, it is an area that has remained on the periphery of discussions by scholars of the early medieval period. To bring…

The Boundaries of Medieval Charnwood Forest Through the Lens of the Longue Durée

Charnwood Forest is an upland area in north-west Leicestershire characterised by areas of woodland and distinctive outcrops of pre-Cambrian rocks. The literature to date suggests that medieval Charnwood Forest was a marginal and inhospitable…

Place, Landscape And Gentry Identity In Late Medieval Leicestershire, C.1460-1560

This thesis examines the role of place and the landscape in the construction and expression of gentry identity in late medieval Leicestershire. Land has been said to be the gentry’s most prized possession, and the myriad ways in which the gentry have…